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An upcoming book about the history of the LDS church in Taiwan is due out July 31, 2017. This book is written by a friend and coworker of mine Felipe Chou and his wife Petra. Both have extensive knowledge of the church in that area and have spent the last few years researching and interviewing those who experienced the growth of the church in Taiwan. I am looking forward to reading this book and adding it to my collection! Do yourself a favor and pre-order today. You can buy it on Amazon or Deseret Book. There is also a Facebook group with many posts and more info on the upcoming book. I also have to flyers you can use to share with others. flyer bilingual & flyer chinese

Work on a Chinese translation of the Book of Mormon started shortly after missionaries arrived in 1955 to Hong Kong. President Grant Heaton, hired a few people to translate portions of the Book of Mormon and then had formed a committee to review the translations. Translation of the Book of Mormon proved difficult and the work was slow. The translation was mostly finished by 1959, but President Heaton felt it still needed work. He was released as mission President and the work on the translation stopped. It wasn’t until Hu Wei-I was called in 1962 to translate 3rd Nephi. Hu Wei-I joined the church in 1959 and quickly started translating church material into Chinese. Hu Wei-I and Larry K. Browning were set apart to translate the Book of Mormon on the 5th of November 1963 by Elder Gordon B. Hinckley and began translation in January of 1964. The translation was finished that July and Hu Wei-I was quoted saying, “It took me seven months; Joseph Smith only needed two.” Publication was on December 20th, 1965 with 3,000 copies and was published in hard and softbound.

This copy of the first edition of the Book of Mormon in Chinese presented to President David O. McKay, who 45 years ago on January 9, 1921, accompanied by Elder Hugh J. Cannon, in the “Forbidden City” of Peking dedicated and consecrated and set apart “the Chinese realm for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored in this dispensation through the Prophet Smith.”

The Book of Mormon is now available in the language which is the mother tongue of more people than any other on earth. May it go forth among them as a witness of the Son of God, the Savior of the world.